Organisations in Innovation Systems

Organisations are crucial elements in an innovation system. Yet, their role is so ubiquitous that it is difficult to grasp and to examine from the perspective of public policy. Besides, links between the literature at firm and system levels on the one hand, and public policy and governance studies on the other, are still scarce. The purpose of this paper is to define the conceptual background of innovation policy in relation to the role of organisations in general, and entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship in particular. In so doing, this paper aims at making three contributions. Firstly, it distinguishes between different types of organisations in the innovation system, a crucial topic in understanding innovation dynamics and blurring borders. Secondly, it identifies the organisation-related bottlenecks in the innovation system, and examines the policy instruments to solve them. Thirdly, it discusses the limits of public policy and suggests introducing a wider governance approach.